Dubai International Airport (DXB) has once again taken the crown as the world’s busiest airport for international travel, with nearly 90 million passengers in 2018.

Airports Council International (ACI) released on Wednesday its latest list of busiest aviation hubs in the world, ranking DXB in the top spot.

From January to December 2018, traffic figures at DXB reached more than 88.8 million, up 1.3 per cent from the same period in 2017.

There were millions more flyers passing through the gates at DXB last year than in other popular hubs like London and Hong Kong International Airports, which recorded 75 million and 74 million, respectively, in 2018.

International travel was still strong last year, with the ACI saying that passenger traffic remained resilient in 2018 and is estimated to have reached 8.8 billion, growing by six per cent compared to the previous year.

Passenger traffic at the world’s 20 busiest airports, including Dubai International, which represent 17 per cent of all global passenger traffic, jumped 4.7 per cent in 2018 as more than 1.5 billion passengers used these airports.

“It is heartening to see that global passenger traffic growth has remained resilient in the face of an increasingly tense and challenging geopolitical climate,” ACI world director general Angela Gittens said.

“Aviation is strongly linked to the global economy and to local development, however, and the protectionist rhetoric that has swept several Western countries will continue to restrain growth in the efficient flow of people, goods and services.”

“With the cost of travel decreasing in many markets, and a burgeoning middle class growing in emerging markets, passenger traffic growth has remained irrepressible.”

However, in terms of total passenger volumes, including domestic and international traffic, the Atlanta-Hartsfield-Jackson Airport in the United States was the clear winner last year, with over 107 million flyers.

Dubai’s total traffic was ranked third.

World’s 10 busiest airports (international passenger traffic, 2018)

Dubai International (DXB): 88.8 million

London Heathrow (LHR): 75.3 million

Hong Kong International Airport (HKG): 74.3 million

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol (AMS): 70.9 million

Incheon International Airport (ICN): 67.6 million

Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG): 66.3 million

Singapore Changi Airport (SING): 64.8 million

Frankfurt Airport (FRA): 61.7 million

SuvarnabhumiBangkok (BKK): 50.8 million

Istanbul Ataturk Airport (IST): 48.9 million

Editor's Note: This article was published in Gulf News on March 13th 2019 http://bit.ly/GNDubaiInternational